Systems and methods of evaluating socio-economic and environmental impact

ABSTRACT

A system and method for evaluating socio-economic and/or environmental impact automatically identifies and transmits to a user computing device a socio-economic and/or environmental impact web page of an organization. A computer database coupled to a server contains data for various socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages, defining formatting elements configured to display impact data. The computer database receives a data feed of the impact data from the organization and/or from one or more of the organization&#39;s vendors, and automatically updates the organization&#39;s socio-economic and/or environmental impact web page. The system automatically generates in the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web page, a socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depiction representing socio-economic and/or environmental impact of resource allocations of the associated organization. The system uses hybrid input-output, econometric and environmental models to calculate a total economic impact ratio of the SGA (Selling, General &amp; Administrative) costs of the organization on local communities.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/045,969, filed Sep. 4, 2014, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS OFEVALUATING ECONOMIC IMPACT, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The subject matter disclosed herein related generally to computer-basedsystems and methods for analyzing market impact through automatedprocesses of identification and valuation of market forces.

BACKGROUND

For many years, one solution for preserving declining economies has beento attract more investment in the form of tourism, targeted spendingwith under-represented groups, and development of new entertainment orretail venues. Although many of these strategies have been effective inthe short-term, over the long term as the novelty of these investmentsstart to diminish the economic rationale for these investments from aconsumer perspective becomes invisible, because it is difficult forpeople to visually decipher the socio-economic and/or environmentalbenefit of their spending behaviors.

Conventional computing devices and computing networks are frequentlyemployed by users to obtain all types of information. However, whensocio-economic and/or environmental impact information is requested,this information is difficult to find, if it even exists. Furthermore,due to the highly technical nature of social, economic & environmentalimpact information, it is extremely difficult for the average person todecipher the real meaning behind the information presented. Therefore,even when socio-economic and/or environmental impact data is available,the ability to use and comprehend this information is difficult.

With influences like shifting demographics, international competition,global environmental changes and the erosion of local economies coupledwith universal access to information, 24/7 media scrutiny and theenduring low level of consumer sentiment towards the economy, there is agrowing public backlash against people and organizations that supportbusiness practices that are perceived to be at the expense of theenvironment or the greater community. This backlash may result innegative internal and external perceptions of an organization, which candirectly impact employee morale, shareholder value, customerrelationships and brand reputation.

One method of combating this backlash has been through the commissioningof economic or environmental impact studies. Some of the economic impacttools used to complete a study are IMPLAN, RIMS-II, and EMSI.Additionally one of the processes to assess the environmental aspectsand potential impacts associated with a product, process, or service isthrough conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The results of each ofthese studies are typically communicated in the format of a detailedreport. These reports are usually highly technical in nature, verbose,and normally require 3 to 12 months to complete. Long lead times andantiquated data, combined with the technical knowledge needed tointerpret the information contained within these reports, ultimatelyrenders these types of studies informative at best, but oftenineffective. Studies show that people tend to understand informationmore effectively through graphics compared to text. What is needed is ameans for automatically generating socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact analysis and presenting the resulting data graphically, therebycapitalizing on graphically-oriented human understanding in thiscontext. Further, as opposed to providing a periodic and static report,what is desired is a computer-based system that can update thepresentation of this analysis in real-time based upon updated data fromdata sources.

SUMMARY

The systems and methods for evaluating socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact described herein facilitate tracking of social,economic & environmental impact data, and the automatic generation ofgraphical depictions of socio-economic and/or environmental impact dataover a distributed communication medium, such as the Internet. Thesystems and methods use hybrid input-output, econometric andenvironmental models to calculate the unique impact value of anorganization's labor and supply chain resource allocations. The systemsand methods process data from primary and secondary sources to performconvolutions of the socio-economic & environmental impact data. Astatistical model then summarizes the data into a consolidated ratio,which represents a unique impact sentiment value of a specificorganization's resource allocations.

In an embodiment, a system comprises a computer database containing datafor each of a plurality of socio-economic and/or environmental impactweb pages, the data defining a plurality of formatting elements that areconfigured to display impact data; wherein each of the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web pages is associated with one of aplurality of organizations; wherein each of the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages includes an socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction representing socio-economicand/or environmental impact of resource allocations of the associatedone of the plurality of organizations; wherein the computer databasestores impact data associated with each of the plurality oforganizations; and wherein the computer database receives a data feed ofthe impact data from at least one entity and at least one data sourceserver; a computer server is coupled to the computer database andprogrammed to receive from a web browser of a user computing device anindication that a link has been activated on a web page that requests anidentification of one of the plurality of organizations; upon receivingthe indication that the link has been activated, automatically identifythe socio-economic and/or environmental impact web page associated withthe one of the plurality of organizations identified by the request; andin response to identification of the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web page, automatically retrieve stored impact data from thecomputer database corresponding to the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web page, generating an socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction, and transmitting to the usercomputing device the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pageformatted to include the socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction.

In another embodiment, a method comprises in response to activation of alink displayed by one of a plurality of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages, automatically identifying, by a computerserver, a source page of the one of the plurality of socio-economicand/or environmental impact web pages on which the link has beenactivated; wherein a computer database coupled to the computer servercontains data, for each of the plurality of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages, defining a plurality of formattingelements that are configured to display impact data; wherein each of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages is associated withone of a plurality of organizations; and wherein each of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages includes aneconomic impact quotient depiction representing socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact of resource allocations of the associated one ofthe plurality of organizations; automatically retrieving, by thecomputer server, from the computer database, for the one of theplurality of socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pagesidentified as the source page on which the link has been activated, thedata defining the plurality of formatting elements that are configuredto display impact data; and automatically generating, by the computerserver, a socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depictionbased upon the data defining the plurality of formatting elements thatare configured to display impact data, and transmitting to the usercomputing device the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pageformatted to include the socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction.

In a further embodiment, a system comprises a computer databasecontaining data for each of a plurality of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages, the data defining a plurality offormatting elements that are configured to display impact data; whereineach of the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages isassociated with one of a plurality of organizations; wherein each of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages includes asocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depictionrepresenting socio-economic and/or environmental impact of resourceallocations of the associated one of the plurality of organizations;wherein the computer database stores impact data associated with each ofthe plurality of organizations; and wherein the computer databasereceives a data feed of the impact data from at least one vendorassociated with the one of the plurality of organizations, and whereinthe impact data includes one or more of economic data, employee data,environmental data, and locality data of the vendor associated with theone of the plurality of organizations; a computer server is coupled tothe computer database and programmed to receive from the web browser ofa user computing device an indication that a link has been activated ona web page that requests an identification of one of the plurality oforganizations; upon receiving the indication that the link has beenactivated, automatically identify the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web page associated with the one of the pluralityof organizations identified by the request; and in response toidentification of the socio-economic and/or environmental impact webpage, automatically retrieve stored impact data from the computerdatabase corresponding to the socio-economic and/or environmental impactweb page, generating an socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction, and transmitting to the user computing device thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web page formatted to includethe socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depiction.

Additional features and advantages of an embodiment will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription. The objectives and other advantages of the invention willbe realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out inthe exemplary embodiments in the written description and claims hereofas well as the appended drawings.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present disclosure can be better understood by referring to thefollowing figures. The components in the figures are not necessarily toscale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles ofthe disclosure. In the figures, reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system and method of measuringsocio-economic and/or environmental impact and automatically generatinggraphical socio-economic and/or environmental impact content over adistributed communication medium, such as the Internet, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a system and method of measuring socio-economicand/or environmental impact and automatically generating graphicalsocio-economic and/or environmental impact content over a distributedcommunication medium, such as the Internet, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a system and method of measuring socio-economicand/or environmental impact and automatically receiving andauthenticating impact data for use in generating graphicalsocio-economic and/or environmental impact content over a distributedcommunication medium, such as the Internet, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a system and method of measuring socio-economicand/or environmental impact and automatically receiving andauthenticating impact data for use in generating graphicalsocio-economic and/or environmental impact content over a distributedcommunication medium, such as the Internet, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a chart of local and non-local spending of an organization,from a report including graphical socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact content for the organization, as generated over a distributedcommunication medium, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a chart of percentage distribution of local and non-localspending of an organization, from a report including graphicalsocio-economic and/or environmental impact content for the organization,as generated over a distributed communication medium, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a chart of individual socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact ratios for given vendors of an organization, from a reportincluding graphical economic impact content for the organization, asgenerated over a distributed communication medium, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 8 is a chart of percentage of the total local spending by vendorversus socio-economic and/or environmental impact ratios by vendor of anorganization, from a report including graphical economic impact contentfor the organization, as generated over a distributed communicationmedium, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a source organization userauthentication feature of the system and method, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a source organization userauthentication feature of the system and method, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a source organization userauthentication feature of the system and method, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a file intake process ofsocio-economic and/or environmental impact data from an authenticatedsource organization user of the system and method, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a vendor user authentication featureof the system and method, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a file intake process ofsocio-economic and/or environmental impact data from an authenticatedvendor user of the system and method, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a file intake process ofsocio-economic and/or environmental impact data from an authenticatedvendor employee of the system and method, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagrammatical representation of a socio-economic and/orenvironmental model to measure the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact of an organization's supply chain and labor resource allocations,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram depicting an illustrative operatingenvironment in which a socio-economic and/or environmental impactcontent generation service prepares content regarding identified itemsof interest based upon a hierarchically organized template, according toan embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration of templates obtained by thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact content generation service,according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure is here described in detail with reference toembodiments illustrated in the drawings, which form a part here. Otherembodiments may be used and/or other changes may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Theillustrative embodiments described in the detailed description are notmeant to be limiting of the subject matter presented here.

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated inthe drawings, and specific language will be used here to describe thesame. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scopeof the invention is thereby intended. Alterations and furthermodifications of the inventive features illustrated here, and additionalapplications of the principles of the inventions as illustrated here,which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and havingpossession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope ofthe invention.

A system and method for evaluating the socio-economic and/orenvironmental economic impact automatically identifies and transmits toa user computing device a socio-economic and/or environmental impact webpage of an organization. In an embodiment, the system includes acomputer database that contains data, for each of a plurality ofsocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages, which define aplurality of formatting elements that are configured to define impactdata. Each of the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pagesis associated with one of a plurality of organizations, and storesimpact data associated with the associated organization.

In an embodiment, a computer server coupled to the computer database isprogrammed to receive from the web browser of a user computing device anindication that a link has been activated on a web page. The indicationof activating the web page link requests identification of one of theplurality of organizations. Upon receiving this indication, the serverautomatically identifies the socio-economic and/or environmental impactweb page associated with the one of the plurality of organizations. Theserver then automatically retrieves stored impact data corresponding tothe socio-economic and/or environmental impact web page from thecomputer database, and generates an socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact quotient depiction. The system transmits to the user computingdevice the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web page,formatted to include the socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction.

In an embodiment, the computer database receives a data feed of impactdata from at least one entity and at least one data source server. Asused in the present disclosure, the impact data received from at leastone entity and stored in the computer database is sometimes calledsocio-economic and/or environmental impact data. The at least one entitymay include one of the plurality of organizations, also referred to assource organizations in the present patent disclosure. Additionally, theat least one entity may include a vendor of one of the organizations. Inthe case of impact data from a vendor of one of the organizations, theimpact data may include economic data, employee data, environmental andlocality data of the vendor and the vendor's employees.

In an embodiment, upon receiving updated impact data from the datasource server, the system automatically updates the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web page based upon the updated impact data.In an embodiment, upon receiving updated impact data from the datasource server, the system automatically updates an economic impactquotient depiction included in the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web page based upon the updated impact data.

In an embodiment, the socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction provides a visually distinctive representation of ansocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient. The socio-economicand/or environmental impact quotient depiction may show an increase,decrease, or unchanged value of a first socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient, in comparison to the value of a secondsocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient. In an embodiment,the first socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient representsa current socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient, and thesecond socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient represents aprevious socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient. As usedthis embodiment, the present system and method can track and report, inreal time, changes in socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotients of an organization. In another embodiment, the firstsocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient represents apost-change socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient, and thesecond socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient represents apre-change socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient. As usedin this embodiment, the present system and method can perform efficient“what if” analyses to predict changes in socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotients of an organization that would occur inresponse to a potential project, or other potential change, of anorganization.

In an embodiment, the system uses hybrid input-output, econometric andenvironmental models to calculate a total socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact ratio of an organization. In an embodiment, thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact ratio represents the SGA(Selling, General & Administrative) costs of the organization on localcommunities.

Producing data visualizations may be an effective technique forgraphically conveying collected data, results of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact studies, and conclusions derived from the studies.Effective data visualizations are more flexible and attractive thantext-based reporting. By communicating multifaceted data in a visuallyattractive and comprehensible manner, people are able to grasp complexinformation more effectively. Depending on how data is presented, it canbe used to create actionable steps to provoke change. Today, people arefrequently nearby screens, such as a computer, tablet, or smartphone,displaying mountains of information, and so people consume data in smallchunks of data by skimming headlines and browsing nuggets of data. Asbrevity becomes more essential, real-time data visualizations of complexeconomic impact data present organizations with an opportunity todeliver knowledge, progress, and authenticity to stakeholders, and maybe formatted to be quickly consumable, understandable, and/or memorable.

By making technical economic impact information easier to comprehend andby using an approach that uses current data to calculate socio-economicand/or environmental impact, organizations may effectively communicatesocio-economic and/or environmental impact data to more dynamicallysupport the current perceptions of internal and external stakeholders;demonstrate that an organization's current practices are in line withits values; prove that an organization's practices are in line withperceived social norms; and showcase how an organization, its supplychain and its labor pools are doing to promote what its brand implies,among other advantages. It should be appreciated that other advantagesmay be realized, and that this disclosure is not intended to be limitedto the embodiments disclosed herein.

The present disclosure provides a system and method of measuringsocio-economic and/or environmental impact and automatically generatinggraphical socio-economic and/or environmental impact content over adistributed communication medium, such as the Internet. The system andmethod may provide a computing device, such as a computer or tablet,which presents a user with a user interface, such as a web browser 110,for interacting with the various components of the system, such as a webserver 106 hosting an application and communicatively coupled to avarious devices of the system. In operation, a user may access a homescreen of a native application on the user's computing device or alanding page of a website, at which the user may input logininformation.

In some embodiments, information regarding the source organization'ssocio-economic and/or environmental activities and socio-economic and/orenvironmental data may be gathered from a source organization beingmodeled and/or other entities associated with the source organization.Entities that may provide information could include the sourceorganization, vendors upstream and/or downstream from the sourceorganization in the supply chain, and an upstream/downstream vendor'semployees. With regards to the source organization, the sourceorganization may utilize login credentials supplied by the system inorder to securely access the website hosted on the webserver 106 andthen upload data via a file upload process.

The file upload process may include automated or manual processespermitting the source organization to input data into the system via thehosted website. For example, the source organization may input datadirectly into fields of an HTML form, or a spreadsheet file may beuploaded and parsed by the webserver 106 or other device of the system.The data may be logically segmented into fields containing informationor characteristics associated with each upstream and/or downstreamvendor or supplier. These data fields associated with vendors mayinclude a vendor or supplier name, certification type (e.g.,women-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned, hub zone, NativeAmerican-owned, LGBT-owned, 8A certified, SDB certified, disadvantagedbusiness certified or no classification), vendor's/supplier's principalplace of doing business location (state, city and zip code), and thespecific annual amount spent with each supplier, among others.

When a user associated with the source organization arrives at thewebsite, the user may proceed through the authentication process, andthen the file-compatibility process to determine whether any input dataand/or computer files are compatible with the system. Once the user isauthenticated and the file-compatibility check passes, a sourceorganization user has completed the required steps for economic impactanalysis. Upon completion of source organization upload, a uniqueidentifier code may be created for the source organization. In somecases, a unique identifier code will be created for each of the sourceorganization's upstream/downstream vendors. In some embodiments, aunique survey may be automatically generated for the sourceorganization. The unique survey may contain a unique identifier codeassociated with the survey and the source organization, and may be usedto authenticate individuals accessing or submitting the survey. An emailwith a unique identifier code will be sent on behalf of the sourceorganization to each source organization's vendors highlighting thetypes of data needed to complete the survey. After a period of time haspassed, the survey link will be created and sent to sourceorganization's vendors. Each source organization's vendor, or associatedusers (e.g., employees, volunteers) may be required to authenticatethemselves by using the unique identifier code associated with thevendor. Once authenticated, the information input by the user of thesource organization's vendor may include: vendor name, state ofincorporation, state, city and zip of principal place of doing business,total number of employees, total number of employees per gender type(male, female, non-selected), total number of employees per ethnicitytype (African American, Asian American, Caucasian American, HispanicAmerican, Native American, non-selected). The total number of employeesper gender type or the total number of employees per ethnicity type arenot required fields. Once the user of the source organization's vendorhas completed the survey a new survey will be automatically generated.The source organization's vendor will ask their employee to visit thepage, enter the unique identifier code and complete the survey.

In some cases, survey fields that are otherwise automatically populatedby the system into generated surveys, may be optional fields or omittedfrom surveys altogether, based on the vendor's preferences and/or thesource organization's preferences. For example, it may or may not berequired for employees of the vendor or source organization to givetheir name or any personal information, such as age, gender, ethnicity,salary range, state, city, zip code of residence, and annual expenditureon items such as local fuel purchases, local entertainment, localgrocery, local utilities.

A filter 104 software application may comprise a redirect module 118capable of determining whether a user has a registered account. Thefilter 104 may reside on any computing device communicatively accessibleto the web or application server 106. An authentication controlcomponent 108 software application may reside on the web/applicationserver 106, an authentication server 102, or any other computing devicecommunicatively coupled to a web/application server 106. If a user isnot associated with a registered account, a registration module 116 mayrequire the user to input certain information and/or login credentials.Upon completion of the registration process, an account is created andthe user starts a session.

Once user has been authenticated by the authentication server 102, theuser is presented with the option to upload data to the web/applicationserver 106. Data is authenticated for accuracy and the web/applicationserver 106 performs a data compatibility check and then determineswhether the data is compatible with the data formatting of previouslystored data in a database 122 (e.g., appropriate file type). If the datapasses the compatibility check, the data goes through the data uploadprocess as normal. If the compatibility check fails, the system notifiesthe user of the incompatibility and suggests that user prepares theappropriate file type for upload. Once the data passes theauthentication and compatibility process, the data is uploaded to aserver web/application server 120. The data is then distributed over acommunication medium 124, such as the Internet, to a database 122.

A socio-economic and/or environmental impact content generation service126, executed by a web/application server 106, may implement hybridinput-output, econometric and environmental models to calculate theunique economic impact of an organization's labor and supply chainresource allocations. The impact content generation service 126 may usedata from primary and secondary sources. The socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact content generation service 126 may performconvolutions of the economic and environmental data, utilizing astatistical model that then summarizes input and output data into aconsolidated ratio representing the unique impact sentiment of aspecific source organization, vendor or employee. It should beappreciated that the output produced by the socio-economic and/orenvironmental content generation service 126 is not limited to producinga ratio. The results and/or output of the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact content generation service 126 may include amachine-readable computer file containing the calculated results, suchas an XML file; the results may be outputted as a ratio, a gradedetermined by the socio-economic and/or environmental impact contentgeneration service 126 against a predetermined grading scale. Theresults and output of the socio-economic and/or environmental impactcontent generation service 126 may be normalized to be easier to read bya human or easier to read by compatible computing services. Theoutputted results of the socio-economic and/or environmental impactcontent generation service 126 r may be translated to another scale(e.g., decimal, percentage, scalar change), or translated into adifferent presentation format (e.g., text-based to a graphicalrepresentation of the data).

The socio-economic and/or environmental impact content generationservice 126 may classify data within a database 122 and may transmitdata over a communication medium 124, such as the Internet, from adatabase 122 to a server 120. When the system detects new data, theserver 106 is updated in real time. Data is automatically distributedover a communication medium 124, such as the Internet, to a customizedonline dashboard residing on server 106 and may be viewed from anyelectronic device that sends and retrieves data over a communicationmedium 124, such as the Internet, via a web browser 110. Data iscollected and distributed over a communication medium 124, such as theInternet, from the database 122 to a server 106 executing a filearchitecture module 120. The file architecture module 120 mayautomatically generate a machine-readable computer file containing anelectronic image of text and/or graphics based on the results of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact content generation service126. In some cases, the computer file may be a file format that presentsthe text and/or graphics on a user interface such that the visual outputon the screen resembles a printed document (e.g., PDF file). Thisdocument can be viewed over a communication medium 124, such as theInternet, printed and/or electronically transmitted to a clientcomputing device, such as the workstation of the organization's decisionmaker.

An web/application server 106 preparing graphical reports may usetemplates with unique icons, unique illustrations, unique graphs andgraphics as well as text and paragraph templates composed of sentencetypes including sentence templates. The sentence templates may furtherinclude variables having corresponding attributes. Each of thetemplates, sentence templates, and attributes may be hierarchicallyorganized. The template data can be directed to an electronic ticker, aninternet-based dashboard, or the template data can automatically produceunique icons, unique illustrations, unique graphics, and text. Each ofthe formats takes the economic impact data and creates automatedgraphical content that makes it easier to explain and comprehendeconomic impact data at a glance.

In an embodiment, the unique graphics uses green, yellow and red colorsto indicate ratio changes. Green indicates a higher ratio value, redindicates a lower ratio value and yellow indicates no change. Data isdistributed over a communication medium 124, such as the Internet, to anelectronic ticker where it is automatically displayed on an electronicticker. The electronic ticker displays an organization's identifier,such as a five-digit alphanumeric acronym, as well as the organization'slogo, the organization's specific impact ratio, an up or down triangleshowing whether that ratio is above or below the previous ratio value,the date of the previous ratio period, a number or percentage detailinghow much higher or lower the current ratio was than the previous ratio,and/or the geographic area associated with the ratio calculations. Theticker uses colors to indicate ratio changes. Green indicates a higherratio value, red indicates a lower ratio value and yellow indicates nochange. The system and method synthesizes the data and uniquely displaysinformation in a variety of formats enabling people to quicklycomprehend socio-economic and/or environmental impact data at a glance.

FIG. 2 shows a method for measuring socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact and automatically generating graphical socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact content, which may be implementing a system such asthat of FIG. 1, including a computer database, and a computer servercoupled the computer database. In an embodiment, the computer databasecontains data, for each of a plurality of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages, defining a plurality of formattingelements that are configured to display impact data. In an embodiment,the computer database stores impact data associated with each of aplurality of organizations. At step 201, the computer database receivesa feed of impact data from at least one entity. In an embodiment, thecomputer database receives a data feed of impact data from at least oneentity and at least one data source server. In an embodiment, thecomputer database receives impact data from one of the plurality oforganizations, such as impact data relating to transactions from thatorganization with one or more of its vendors. In an embodiment, the atleast one entity includes one or more vendor of one of theorganizations. The impact data received from a vendor of theorganization may include one or more of socio-economic and/orenvironmental data, employee data, and locality data of the vendor. Inan embodiment, step 201 communicates to a vendor of one of theorganizations a survey form, such as an online survey form, to becompleted and returned by the vendor. In a further embodiment, theimpact data includes tax return data received from one or more vendor ofone of the organizations. In an embodiment, the computer databasereceives the feed of impact data from at the least one entity in astandard file format (such as CSV format, TXT format, MDB format, DBFformat or XLS format) to facilitate importing the impact data into thecomputer database.

At step 203, the computer server automatically updates thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages of an associatedorganization based upon the impact data received at step 201. In anembodiment, the computer server automatically updates the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web pages of the associated organizationbased upon the received impact data, in real time. In anotherembodiment, the computer server automatically updates the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web pages of the associated organizationbased upon the received impact data, in a batch process. In anembodiment, the computer server automatically updates the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web pages of the associated organizationbased upon the received impact data, in a periodic batch process; forexample an hourly batch process, or a daily batch process. The presentsystem and method's automatic updating of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages of associated organizations based uponreceived impact data, together with automatic reporting ofsocio-economic and/or environmental impact data, represent a significantadvance over conventional socio-economic and/or environmental impactreporting procedures.

At step 205, the computer server automatically identifies asocio-economic and/or environmental impact web page of one of aplurality of organizations, based upon activation of a web page link. Inan embodiment, the computer server receives from a web browser of a usercomputing device an indication that a link has been activated on a webpage that requests identification of one of the plurality oforganizations. In response to this indication, the computer serverautomatically identifies the socio-economic and/or environmental webpage associated with the one of the plurality of organizationsidentified by the request.

As step 207, the computer server automatically retrieves from thecomputer database data defining formatting elements that are configuredto display impact data for the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web page identified at step 205. In an embodiment, thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web page includes asocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depictionrepresenting the socio-economic and/or environmental impact of resourceallocations of the associated one of the plurality of organizations.Various examples and types of formatting elements that that areconfigured to display impact data for the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web page are described herein. These include forexample formatting elements configured to generate socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depictions; formatting elements configuredto display other graphical socio-economic and/or environmental impactcontent (e.g., charts or graphs); and formatting elements configured todisplay non-graphical socio-economic and/or environmental impact content(e.g., text display formats such as tables and lists).

At step 209, the computer server automatically generates asocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depiction, forinclusion in the identified socio-economic and/or environmental impactweb page for the associated one of the organizations. The computerserver transmits the socio-economic and/or environmental impact webpage, formatted to include the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact quotient depiction, to the user computing device that providedthe request of step 205.

In an embodiment, the system and method for measuring socio-economicand/or environmental impact and automatically generating graphicaleconomic impact content uses standard formulas based upon economicimpact data obtained from the system, and other data sources, to providethe total economic impact ratio of the SGA (Selling, General &Administrative) costs of a corporation on the local communities.

The first formula calculates Economic Impact Ratio:

${{Economic}\mspace{14mu}{Impact}\mspace{14mu}{Ratio}} = \frac{{S\; V\; S} + {V\; S\; I\; L\; I} + {V\; E\; L\; S}}{S\; V\; S}$Where:SVS=Source Vendor spendingVSILI=Vendor Source Income Local ImpactVELS=Vendor Employees Local Spending

The second formula calculates Vendor Source Income Local Impact Ratio:

${{Vendor}\mspace{14mu}{Source}\mspace{14mu}{Income}\mspace{14mu}{Local}\mspace{14mu}{Impact}\mspace{14mu}{Ratio}\mspace{14mu}\left( {V\; S\; I\; L\; I\; R} \right)} = \frac{V\; L\; S\; G\; A\; E \times S\; V\; S}{V\; G\; R}$Where:VLSGAE=Vendor Local SGA ExpensesVGR=Vendor Gross Revenue

The third formula calculates Vendor Source Local Water Ratio:

${{Vendor}\mspace{14mu}{Source}\mspace{14mu}{Local}\mspace{14mu}{Water}\mspace{14mu}{Ratio}\mspace{14mu}\left( {V\; S\; L\; W\; R} \right)} = \frac{V\; L\; S\; G\; A\; E \times S\; V\; S \times W\; U}{V\; G\; R}$Where:VLSGAE=Vendor Local SGA Expenses (water usage cost not factored into SGAexpense)WU=Vendor Water Usage Expense

The fourth formula calculates Vendor Source Local Solid Waste DisposalRatio:

${{Vendor}\mspace{14mu}{Source}\mspace{14mu}{Local}\mspace{14mu}{Solid}\mspace{14mu}{Waste}\mspace{14mu}{Disposal}\mspace{14mu}{Ratio}\mspace{14mu}\left( {V\; S\; L\; S\; W\; D\; R} \right)} = \frac{V\; L\; S\; G\; A\; E \times S\; V\; S \times W\; D\; U}{V\; G\; R}$Where:VLSGAE=Vendor Local SGA Expenses (solid waste disposal cost not factoredinto SGA expense)WDU=Vendor Waste Disposal Expense

The fifth formula calculates Vendor Source Local Recycled Waste Ratio:

${{Vendor}\mspace{14mu}{Source}\mspace{14mu}{Local}\mspace{14mu}{Recycled}\mspace{14mu}{Waste}\mspace{14mu}{Ratio}\mspace{14mu}\left( {V\; S\; L\; R\; W} \right)} = \frac{V\; L\; S\; G\; A\; E \times S\; V\; S \times R\; W\; U}{V\; G\; R}$Where:VLSGAE=Vendor Local SGA Expenses (recycling cost not factored into SGAexpense)RWU=Vendor Recycled Waste Expense

The sixth formula calculates Vendor Employees Local Spending:

${{Vendor}\mspace{14mu}{Employees}\mspace{14mu}{Local}\mspace{14mu}{Spending}\mspace{14mu}\left( {V\; E\; L\; S} \right)} = \frac{S\; V\; S \times E\; S\; T\; S}{V\; G\; R}$Where:ESTS=Employees Summary Total Spending

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show variations of a process for receiving impact dataat the computer database, and for automatically updating thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web page of an associatedorganization based upon received impact data. At step 301 of the methodof FIG. 3, the computer database receives a data feed of impact datafrom at least one entity and at least one data source server. At step303, the computer server authenticates the impact data as a preliminaryto updating the computer database with the impact data. For example, thecomputer server may authenticate impact data received from one source,such as vendor responses to a survey form, with confirmatory data, suchas vendor tax return data. At step 305, following authentication of theimpact data, the computer server automatically updates thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web page of an associatedorganization based upon authenticated impact data.

At step 401 of the method of FIG. 4, the computer database receivesimpact data from at least one vendor associated with one of theplurality of organizations. At step 403, the computer serverauthenticates the impact data as a preliminary to updating the computerdatabase with the impact data. For example, the computer server mayauthenticate impact data received responses of the at least one vendorto a survey form, with confirmatory data, such as tax return data of theat least one vendor. At step 405, following authentication of the impactdata, the computer server automatically updates the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web page of the associated organizationbased upon the authenticated impact data.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a source entity user authenticationmethod 900 of the present system and method, according to an embodiment.In an embodiment, the source user is associated with an entity, alsoherein called source organization, that is a source of socio-economicand/or environmental impact data for the present system and method. At902, the method performs an authentication check of a source user. At904, the method determines whether the user passes the authenticationcheck. If the user passes the authentication check at 906, the systemrecognizes the source user and permits access to the system. If the userfails the authentication check at 908, the system redirects the sourceuser to redirect module 118 wherein the source user may register withthe system and retrieve login credentials at 910. At 912, 914 uponauthentication failure of the source user, the method logs theauthentication error and notifies the system administrator. FIG. 11shows exemplary method steps for redirecting and registering a user,corresponding to the steps 908, 910 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a source organization userauthentication method 1000, according to an embodiment. The method 1000also may be used to authenticate other types of user, such as vendorusers. At 1002 the user authentication module of the system uses ahashing algorithm to fetch user information from the user. At 1004 thesystem calculates a digest using a one way hashing algorithm. At 1005the system uses the same hashing algorithm on a remote mirror file toproduce a secure hash value. At 1008 the system determines whether theremote hash value is equivalent to the secure hash value. Successfulmatch of these values authenticates the user at 1010, while failure tomatch these values results in user authentication failure at 1012.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a file intake method 1200 forreceiving socio-economic and/or environmental impact data from anauthenticated source organization user. At 1202 the authenticated sourceuser uploads a file to the system. At 1204 the system performs a filecompatibility check. If the uploaded file passes the compatibility checkat 1206, the system uploads 1208 the file to computer database 122. At1210 the system creates unique identification codes for the source user,and for vendors listed in the file upload. If the uploaded file failsthe compatibility check at 1206, the system returns an error page 1212that is displayed to the source user.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a vendor user authentication methodfor a vendor user. This method may be similar to a user authenticationmethod for a source organization user, such as the method 900 of FIG. 9.Additional security may be provided for authentication of vendor users,such as the use of hashing algorithms as shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating routing of a successfullyauthenticated vendor user to a resource of the system designed toreceive economic impact data from the vendor user. A vendor user is arepresentative or agent of a vendor of one of the organizations and mayinclude a vendor employee, although vendor employees are considered aspecial category of source user as shown e.g., in FIG. 15. In theembodiment of FIG. 14, the authenticated vendor user is forwarded to asurvey resource, which may be a web form for display on a user computingdevice of the vendor user. The web form may include fields to receiveeconomic data, such as sales, revenues, purchases, etc.; employee data,such as employee roster, payroll data, hire dates, termination dates,etc.; environmental data, such as water usage and solid waste disposaldata; and locality data, such as zip codes and other local, state, orregional data. These data may be provided for a vendor facility or whereappropriate, for multiple vendor facilities. The system may employ otheror additional resources besides survey forms to obtain socio-economicand/or environmental impact data from vendor users and other users.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the direction of an authenticated vendoremployee to a system resource designed to receive socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact data from the vendor employee. The resource may bea survey form that includes fields appropriate to vendor employees. Incollecting this type of survey response, the system may log the numberof employee entries.

FIG. 16 is a diagrammatical representation of an economic model 1600 tomeasure the socio-economic and/or environmental impact of anorganization's supply chain and labor resource allocations. The systemobtains socio-economic and/or environmental impact data from the sourceorganization at 1602, and obtains socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact data from one or more vendor of the source organization at 1602.At 1606 the method develops a statistical model from this socio-economicand/or environmental impact data and from other primary and secondarysources. This statistical model is dynamic, and may be updated with data1608 received from the field. The statistical model includes generalsocio-economic and/or environmental impact values. At 1610 thestatistical model data is input into an economic impact model (alsocalled economic model). This economic model also may obtainsocio-economic and/or environmental impact data from vendor employees1612. At 1614 the system operates the economic model to produce aneffective ratio (i.e., a preliminary multiplier used to establish animpact ratio) as a function of the organization's supply chain and labordata. The system then analyzes the results of the model 1616, togenerate a socio-economic and/or environmental impact ratio at 1618.Like the statistical model, the economic model and the impact ratiogenerated using the model, also are dynamic and may be updated in realtime as updated impact data is received from the field 1608.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an illustrative operating environment fora socio-economic and/or environmental impact content generation service.In an embodiment, the socio-economic and/or environmental impact contentgeneration service prepares socio-economic and/or environmental impactcontent reports regarding identified items of interest based upon storedtemplates. At 1702 the system obtains impact ratios and othersocio-economic and/or environmental impact data from various sources,and stores this data in computer database 1710. A template module 1716contains templates used by socio-economic and/or environmental impactcontent generation service 1714 in automated reporting of socio-economicand/or environmental impact content. For example, these templates may beused in text-based and graphical representations of the socio-economicand/or environmental impact data. In an embodiment, the templates modulestores templates in a hierarchical data structure.

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration of the use of templates by ansocio-economic and/or environmental impact content generation service1800. Database 1802 provides socio-economic and/or environmental impactdata for a source organization 1804, and one or more vendor 1806. Thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact data may have differentlocality or geographic scope, such as local, state, regional, ornational impact data 1810. Using templates module 1818, this impact datamay be used to generate socio-economic and/or environmental impact datain a variety of report formats 1812. In various embodiments, contenttypes and reporting formats can include various socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact ratios, such as overall source organization impactratio; vendor impact ratio; vendor employee impact ratio. In anembodiment, these impact ratios are displayed using socio-economicand/or environmental impact quotient depictions. For example, thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depictions mayprovide visually distinctive representations of increasing, decreasing,or unchanged value of one or more of these impact ratios. Additionally,the reports may include a variety of formats for reporting generalinformation, such as charts, graphs, and text.

Exemplary templates of the template module 1814 include sentence typetemplates 1816, 1818, and 1820 with various sentence formats for textreporting of different socio-economic and/or environmental impact data.Graphic templates 1822 can include for example standard charts,graphics, and included text. Electronic ticker feed templates 1824provide distinctive visualizations of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact data such as socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact ratios, and trends in the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact ratios.

EXAMPLE

The following example reports the results of a socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact study for an organization named Corporation 1. Inreporting results of the study, a set of reports are provided to theorganization in the form of tables and charts generated by asocio-economic and/or environmental impact content generation servicethrough automated use of various graphic templates. FIG. 5 shows in abar chart 500, with an included table, total Non-Local Spending of$700,000 (truncated bar 510) and total Local Spending of $605,000(truncated bar 520) for Corporation 1, under the conditions of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact study.

TABLE 1 shows in tabular form, and FIG. 6 shows in pie chart 600, thepercentage distribution of local spending, and of Non-Local Spending,for Corporation 1. Non-Local Spending was 54% of total spending (chartsector 610) and total Local Spending was 46% of total spending (chartsector 620)

TABLE 1 CORPORATION 1 PERCENTAGE LOCAL vs. NON-LOCAL SPENDING % LOCALSPENDING % NON-LOCAL SPENDING 46% 54%

TABLE 2 shows in tabular form, and FIG. 7 shows in a columnar chart 700,the Economic Impact Ratios by Individual Vendors for Corporation 1. TheEconomic Impact Ratios 710-750 are charted for Vendor 1, Vendor 2,Vendor 3, Vendor 4, and Vendor 5, respectively, with an overall vendoreconomic impact ratio of 1.73.

TABLE 2 ECONOMIC IMPACT RATIO CALCULATION INDIVIDUAL VENDORS VENDORRATIO VENDOR 1 2.18 VENDOR 2 1.71 VENDOR 3 1.51 VENDOR 4 1.46 VENDOR 51.88 OVERALL RATIO 1.73

TABLE 3 shows in tabular form, and FIG. 8 shows in a columnar chart 800,the Economic Impact Ratio Calculation including Percentage by Vendor,and Ratio by Vendor, for the five reported vendors of Corporation 1.Ratios by Vendor 805, 815, 825, 835, and 845; and Percentages by Vendor810, 820, 830, 840, 850; are charted for Vendor 1, Vendor 2, Vendor 3,Vendor 4, and Vendor 5, respectively.

TABLE 3 ECONOMIC IMPACT RATIO CALCULATION % BY VENDOR vs. RATIO BYVENDOR VENDOR RATIO PERCENTAGE VENDOR 1 2.18  17    VENDOR 2 1.71  16   VENDOR 3 1.51  20    VENDOR 4 1.46  29    VENDOR 5 1.88  18    OVERALL1.73 100%

The foregoing method descriptions and the process flow diagrams areprovided merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to requireor imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed inthe order presented. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the artthe steps in the foregoing embodiments may be performed in any order.Words such as “then,” “next,” etc. are not intended to limit the orderof the steps; these words are simply used to guide the reader throughthe description of the methods. Although process flow diagrams maydescribe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operationscan be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order ofthe operations may be re-arranged. A process may correspond to a method,a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a processcorresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return ofthe function to the calling function or the main function.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, andalgorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosedherein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentinvention.

Embodiments implemented in computer software may be implemented insoftware, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware descriptionlanguages, or any combination thereof. A code segment ormachine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another codesegment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information,data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via anysuitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing,network transmission, etc.

The actual software code or specialized control hardware used toimplement these systems and methods is not limiting of the invention.Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and methods weredescribed without reference to the specific software code beingunderstood that software and control hardware can be designed toimplement the systems and methods based on the description herein.

When implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or moreinstructions or code on a non-transitory computer-readable orprocessor-readable storage medium. The steps of a method or algorithmdisclosed herein may be embodied in a processor-executable softwaremodule which may reside on a computer-readable or processor-readablestorage medium. A non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readablemedia includes both computer storage media and tangible storage mediathat facilitate transfer of a computer program from one place toanother. A non-transitory processor-readable storage media may be anyavailable media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example,and not limitation, such non-transitory processor-readable media maycomprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othertangible storage medium that may be used to store desired program codein the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessedby a computer or processor. Disk and disc, as used herein, includecompact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc(DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method oralgorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/orinstructions on a non-transitory processor-readable medium and/orcomputer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computerprogram product.

The preceding description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the presentinvention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the following claims and theprinciples and novel features disclosed herein.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed, other aspectsand embodiments are contemplated. The various aspects and embodimentsdisclosed are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to belimiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a computer databasecontaining data for each of a plurality of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages, the data defining a plurality offormatting elements that are configured to display impact data; whereineach of the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages isassociated with one of a plurality of organizations; wherein each of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages includes agraphical representation of impact data associated with resourceallocations of the associated one of the plurality of organizations, thegraphical representation of the impact data associated with the resourceallocations of the associated one of the plurality of organizationsincluding two or more of charts, graphs, and icons, the graphicalrepresentation of the impact data comprising a socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction representing socio-economicand/or environmental impact of the resource allocations of theassociated one of the plurality of organizations; wherein the computerdatabase stores the impact data associated with the resource allocationsof each of the plurality of organizations; and wherein the computerdatabase receives a data feed of the impact data from at least oneentity and at least one data source server, wherein the at least oneentity is a vendor associated with the one of the plurality oforganizations or is a source organization of the one of the plurality oforganizations; wherein in response to receiving the data feed of theimpact data from the at least one entity and the at least one datasource server, a computer server coupled to the computer database isprogrammed to analyze the impact data to automatically calculate updatedimpact quotients associated with the resource allocations of theassociated one of the plurality of organizations; automatically updatethe socio-economic and/or environmental impact web page associated withthe one of the plurality of organizations; and is further programmed toautomatically update the socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction included in the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web page based upon the updated impact quotients; the computerserver coupled to the computer database and programmed to: receive froma web browser of a user computing device an indication that a link hasbeen activated on a web page that requests an identification of one ofthe plurality of organizations; upon receiving the indication that thelink has been activated, automatically identify the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web page associated with the one of theplurality of organizations identified by the request; and in response toidentification of the socio-economic and/or environmental impact webpage associated with the one of the plurality of organizations,automatically retrieve stored impact data from the computer databasecorresponding to the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pageassociated with the one of the plurality of organizations, generate theupdated socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depiction,and transmit to the user computing device the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web page associated with the one of the pluralityof organizations formatted to include the updated socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the computer server is further programmed to automaticallyupdate in real time the socio-economic and/or environmental impact webpage associated with the one of the plurality of organizations inresponse to the receiving the data feed of the impact data from the atleast one entity and the at least one data source server.
 3. The systemof claim 1, wherein the computer server is further programmed toautomatically update in real time the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction included in the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web page associated with the one of theplurality of organizations identified by the request based upon theimpact data representing the resource allocations.
 4. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the computer server is further programmed toauthenticate the impact data representing the resource allocations. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein a first socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient is a current socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient and a second socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient is a previous socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient, and wherein the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction indicates a relative value ofthe current socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient to theprevious socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein a first socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact quotient is a post-change socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact quotient and a second socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient is a pre-change socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient, and wherein the socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction indicates a relative value of the post-changesocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient to the pre-changesocio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one entity is the vendor associated withthe one of the plurality of organizations, and wherein the impact dataof the vendor associated with the one of the plurality of organizationscomprises vendor data including one or more of economic data, employeedata, environmental data, and locality data of the vendor associatedwith the one of the plurality of organizations.
 8. The system of claim7, wherein the computer server is further programmed to authenticate thevendor data of the vendor associated with the one of the plurality oforganizations.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the impact datacorresponding to the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pageof the one of the plurality of organizations includes source vendorspending data (SVS), vendor source income local impact data (VSILI), andvendor employee local spending data (VELS) associated with the one ofthe plurality of organizations; and wherein the computer server isfurther programmed to calculate an economic impact ratio based upon thesource data spending data (SVS), the vendor source income local impactdata (VSILI), and the vendor employee local spending data (VELS)associated with the one of the plurality of organizations.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the economic impact ratio comprises a firsteconomic impact ratio and a second economic impact ratio, and whereineach of the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pagesincludes a second graphical representation selected from respectivevisually distinguishable representations of an increase from the firsteconomic impact ratio to the second economic impact ratio, a decreasefrom the first economic impact ratio to the second economic impactratio, and no change from the first economic impact ratio to the secondeconomic impact ratio.
 11. A method comprising: receiving, by a computerdatabase and from at least one entity, a data feed of impact dataassociated with resource allocations of one of a plurality oforganizations, wherein the computer database is coupled to a computerserver and contains data for a plurality of socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web pages defining a plurality of formattingelements that are configured to display the impact data, wherein each ofthe socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages is associatedwith a respective one of the plurality of organizations, and each of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages includes arespective socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotientdepiction; in response to receiving the data feed of the impact datafrom the at least one entity, automatically calculating, by the computerserver, updated socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotientsassociated with the one of the plurality of organizations, automaticallyupdating a socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pageassociated with the one of the plurality of organizations, andautomatically updating a socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction included in the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web page associated with the one of the plurality oforganizations; in response to activating a link displayed by one of theplurality of socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages,automatically identifying, by the computer server, a source page of theone of the plurality of socio-economic and/or environmental impact webpages on which the link has been activated; automatically retrieving, bythe computer server, from the computer database, for the one of theplurality of socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pagesidentified as the source page on which the link has been activated, thedata defining the plurality of formatting elements that are configuredto display the impact data; and automatically generating, by thecomputer server, the updated socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction based upon the data defining the plurality offormatting elements that are configured to display the impact data, andtransmitting to a user computing device the one of the plurality ofsocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages formatted toinclude the updated socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotientdepiction.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one entityis a vendor associated with the one of the plurality of organizations oris a source organization of the one of the plurality of organizations.13. The method of claim 11, wherein each respective socio-economicand/or environmental impact quotient depiction indicates a relativevalue of a first socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient toa second socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient viarespective visually distinguishable representations of an increase inthe relative value, a decrease in the relative value, and no change inthe relative value.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising thestep of authenticating the impact data representing the resourceallocations.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein a socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction representing economic impact ofresource allocations of an associated one of the plurality oforganizations indicates a relative value of a current impact quotient toa previous socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient viavisually distinctive representations of an increasing socio-economicand/or environmental impact quotient, a decreasing socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient, and an unchanged socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein theimpact data corresponding to the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web page of the one of the plurality of organizations includessource vendor spending data (SVS), vendor source income local impactdata (VSILI), and vendor employee local spending data (VELS) associatedwith the one of the plurality of organizations; further comprising thestep of calculating an economic impact ratio based upon the source dataspending data (SVS), the vendor source income local impact data (VSILI),and the vendor employee local spending data (VELS) associated with theone of the plurality of organizations.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the economic impact ratio comprises a first economic impactratio and a second economic impact ratio, and wherein each of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages includes agraphical representation selected from respective visuallydistinguishable representations of an increase from the first economicimpact ratio to the second economic impact ratio, a decrease from thefirst economic impact ratio to the second economic impact ratio, and nochange from the first economic impact ratio to the second economicimpact ratio.
 18. A system comprising: a computer database containingdata for each of a plurality of socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web pages, the data defining a plurality of formatting elementsthat are configured to display impact data; wherein each of thesocio-economic and/or environmental impact web pages is associated withone of a plurality of organizations; wherein each of the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web pages includes a socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction representing socio-economicand/or environmental impact of resource allocations of the associatedone of the plurality of organizations; wherein the computer databasestores impact data associated with each of the plurality oforganizations; and wherein the computer database receives a data feed ofthe impact data from at least one vendor associated with the one of theplurality of organizations, and wherein the impact data includes one ormore of economic data, employee data, environmental data, and localitydata of the vendor associated with the one of the plurality oforganizations; a computer server is coupled to the computer database andprogrammed to: in response to receiving the data feed of the impact datafrom the at least one vendor associated with the one of the plurality oforganizations, automatically calculate updated impact quotientsassociated with the one of the plurality of organizations, andautomatically update the socio-economic and/or environmental impactquotient depiction included in the socio-economic and/or environmentalimpact web page associated with the one of the plurality oforganizations based upon the updated impact quotients; receive from aweb browser of a user computing device an indication that a link hasbeen activated on a web page that requests an identification of one ofthe plurality of organizations; upon receiving the indication that thelink has been activated, automatically identify the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web page associated with the one of theplurality of organizations identified by the request; and in response toidentification of the socio-economic and/or environmental impact webpage associated with the one of the plurality of organizations,automatically retrieve stored impact data from the computer databasecorresponding to the socio-economic and/or environmental impact web pageassociated with the one of the plurality of organizations, generate theupdated socio-economic and/or environmental impact quotient depiction,and transmit to the user computing device the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact web page associated with the one of the pluralityof organizations formatted to include the updated socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction.
 19. The system of claim 18,further comprising at least one data source server, wherein the computerserver is further programmed to receive from the at least one datasource server the impact data representing the resource allocations, andto automatically update in real time the socio-economic and/orenvironmental impact quotient depiction included in the socio-economicand/or environmental impact web page associated with the one of theplurality of organizations based upon the impact data representing theresource allocations.